The Love Of A Father
by RoverGirl
Summary: Sequel to 'Fine Fine Line'. Goku arrives on the scene and King Kai has something to yell about.


The small town was a wasteland of rumble and urban destruction. A concrete graveyard devoid of life.

Then a man appeared from nowhere. A man in an orange gi with blue undershirt and belt.

"Oh no," he whispered, "I've arrived too late."

Looking around the baron town, he searched for the ki of the two other saiyans...and only found one.

He sensed desperately for the second, looking in all directions.

That's when he heard him.

Vegeta was crying.

Pin-pointing his location Goku walked over and spotted him, his body draped over his son's.

Goku approached the sobbing prince slowly.

He could sense what had happened, but he felt he needed a confirmation from someone.

_"King Kai, can you hear me?"_

"Goku! I know what happened! You must convince Vegeta to get Trunks off that spike immediately. He can be saved but only if you act fast! Trunks is still alive! His spirit has not yet left his body!" King Kai replied quickly.

Goku collapsed on the broken ground, crying in relief.

_"He's alive!"_

"Yes! Now hurry up, Goku, before Trunks does die!" King Kai yelled.

Goku looked at Vegeta, sobbing into his son's shoulder, his arms wrapped around him the best he could, crying in grief uncaring of who saw him.

_"Understood, King Kai," he replied._

With that, he jumped to his feet and ran over to Vegeta and wrapped his arms around his prince.

"Vegeta, stop!" he yelled.

"He's gone..." Vegeta sobbed, not noticing the other saiyan as grief consumed him.

Goku tried to pull Vegeta away from Trunks. He had to save the demi-saiyan, but all he managed to do was enrage Vegeta.

"No! Get off him, Kakarot!" he snapped in defence, his parental instincts running amok in his mind.

Vegeta wrestled with the other saiyan before blasting him backwards.

"He's dead, Kakarot! My son is dead!"

Goku got to his feet quickly.

"No, Vegeta! Trunks is alive! King Kai told me!"

"Look at him, Kakarot! Look at him! I'm not crazy! Trunks is-"

Vegeta broke down and collasped on the ground.

Goku glanced at the demi-saiyan. He had to convince Vegeta that he was wrong, even though Trunks' pale complexion, closed eyes, blue tinted lips and the spike in his chest was evidence to say the young man had died.

"Vegeta calm down!"

_Vegeta! Can you hear me?"_

Vegeta looked around him, trying to find where the voice had come from.

_"It's King Kai. Listen to me, Vegeta! Trunks is still alive! His spirit has not departed his body. You and Goku must get him off that spike and up to Dende. Only there will Trunks survive."_

"Are you sure, Catfish?" Vegeta asked him.

_"Yes! Now stop standing around and help your son!" _

Vegeta ran over to Trunks and started to pull him off of the spike as gently as he could.

"Kakarot, don't just stand there! Help me!" he snapped.

Goku leapt over and took a gentle hold of Trunks' right shoulder and helped ease him off.

He placed two fingers to his forehead whilst Vegeta gathered Trunks up in his arms and picked him up, keeping one hand placed over the bloody wound the spike had made the best he could.

There were no words exchanged as Goku used Instant Transmission to get the lookout far far above.

As soon as they appeared, Dende and Mr. Popo ran over to assist them.

"Get him inside, quickly!" Dende ordered.

Mr. Popo led to the way to one of the Lookout's bedrooms which had been turned into a makeshift medical room. King Kai had obviously pre-warned them and Goku made a mental note to thank him.

Vegeta lay his son down on the bed in the room and stepped out of the way so Dende could heal him. Mr. Popo placed an oxygen mask over his face and moved off, letting the Namekian get to work.

"Hold on,Trunks. Don't die on us," Dende pleaded with the young fighter as he placed his hands over him and began to heal him.

Vegeta, Goku and Mr. Popo watched as the amber healing waves sparkled as they attempted to heal Trunks. Dende closed his eyes in concentration. Goku noticed sweat breaking out on the young Namekian's forehead almost immediately. He also noticed Vegeta's gaze. The prince's eyes made contact only with his son's face. He radiated concern, hopelessness and worry.

Goku placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

He felt Vegeta relax slightly under his touch. But only slightly.

"He is responding," Dende informed them.

Vegeta gasped.

"He is?"

"Still very weak, but he is alive."

The saiyans watched on as Dende continued to bring Trunks back to full health.

"Bulma will kill me if he dies," Vegeta muttered under his breath.

"He won't die, Vegeta," Goku told him, "I'll give my energy to save him before that happens."

Vegeta looked at him with tears in his eyes.

"You promise that, Kakarot?" Vegeta asked him.

"Please go and get some rest, this is going to take time," Dende told them.

Goku nodded whilst Vegeta turned his attention back to Trunks. Goku tugged on his right arm.

"C'mon, Vegeta. There's nothing we can do."

Vegeta shook Goku away.

"No. I'm staying right here. I'm going to be here when Trunks wakes up," Vegeta stated.

"He won't be waking up any time soon. I shall alert you when he is near consciousness," Dende told him.

Goku gently tugged on Vegeta's shoulder.

"C'mon, Vegeta. You need to rest up," Goku told him.

Vegeta finally relented and left with Goku hot on his heels.

"Not one word to Bulma, you got that, Kakarot?" Vegeta growled.

"Understood," Goku replied.

Vegeta headed outside to get some air and try and clear his head.

"Vegeta?"

Vegeta turned round to face his fellow saiyan only for the world to go black.

Consciousness came back to Vegeta slowly and painfully.

He was lying down on a soft bed and above him, hazy but unmistakable was his fellow saiyan.

"Kakarot," Vegeta groaned, "what did you do to me?"

"Welcome back, Vegeta! Sorry about knocking you out. King Kai told me to do it, or else you'd have driven everyone mad."

"You seriously take orders from that blue catfish?" Vegeta asked him.

Goku nodded.

Vegeta looked around him, he was in a room similar to the one Trunks was in, except it wasn't decked out to be a medical room. He looked back at Goku.

"Trunks?"

"Sleeping soundly. Dende managed to save him."

The door to the room creaked open and Dende walked in.

"Ah, you're awake, Vegeta," Dende said cheerfully, "Trunks is beginning to stir, I had hoped you would be awake-"

Vegeta jumped up and ran out of the room towards his son's room. He could sense Trunks' ki. It was a lot stronger. Entering the room, he sighed with relief. Mr. Popo was tucking the demi-saiyan in and making him comfortable. His body armour was discarded in a chair. Mr. Popo looked up and saw Vegeta.

"He's exhausted, but he will be fine," he told him.

Vegeta nodded as he approached his son.

Trunks looked peaceful and very much alive. His face was flushed with colour and it was clear he was in the final stages of waking up.

From the doorway, Goku, Dende and Mr. Popo looked on.

"Dende, is he alright?" Vegeta asked the Namekian.

"Trunks is fine, Vegeta. He just needs to rest now."

"Leave us," Vegeta ordered as he sat down in the chair next to Trunks' bed.

Dende nodded and closed the door, leaving father and son alone.

Vegeta watched intently as Trunks slowly came round. He tilted his son's head to the side so he would be the first thing he saw.

Barely a minute later those familiar blue eyes opened, staring distantly. Vegeta tensed up as those blue eyes didn't focus on him then relaxed as Trunks began to awake fully from his slumber and his eyes focused and recognised him.

"You had me worried there, Trunks," he muttered under his breath.

"Father?"

Vegeta hated how croaky his son's voice was. He removed the glove from his right hand and placed his hand on his son's cheek.

"Save your energy, Son. Focus on where you are."

He watched as Trunks blinked slowly several times, consciousness coming back to him.

"It's cold in here," Trunks muttered.

Vegeta realised it was. He hadn't noticed how cold it was in the room previously. He guessed it was because he was so worked up about Trunks.

"I'll warm you up," Vegeta told him.

Vegeta stood up, wrapped his son up in the bed sheet, picked him up then sat down on the bed, pulling Trunks into a sitting position and holding him close.

"Father?"

Vegeta put a finger to Trunks' lips.

"It's okay, Trunks. Everything is going to be okay," Vegeta assured him.

Vegeta sensed that Trunks had returned to full consciousness. Mentally he thanked Dende and smiled at his son.

"But the spike-" Trunks protested.

"Dende healed you."

"But it went straight through me!" Trunks argued.

The demi-saiyan struggled in his wrappings in attempt to find his chest wound.

"Trunks, keep still!" Vegeta ordered.

"No! It killed me!" Trunks said in disbelief.

Realising that Trunks needed to see visual proof, Vegeta lay his son down and helped free him from the bed sheet. Trunks bolted up right and pulled off the top half of his jump suit, making himself dizzy. Vegeta steadied him, lying him back down. Despite his dizziness, Trunks searched his chest for the wound but couldn't find it. Instead he found his father's ungloved hand.

Trunks looked his father in the eye.

"Trust me, Trunks. You're going to be alright."

"But-"

"No buts, I blasted the monster responsible into a billion pieces and if anyone else wants to try and kill you, I'll blast them into a billion trillion pieces then blast them straight to hell. Now focus on recovering or your mother will kill me," Vegeta told him.

Trunks laughed. "I understand, Father."

Vegeta smiled. "That's more like it."

Trunks took a good look at his surroundings.

"We're at the lookout," he realised.

"Kakarot and I brought you here once we'd gotten you off of that spike. You were still alive, that's how Dende managed to bring you back to full health. You're going to make a complete recovery."

"I guess I owe Dende one."

Vegeta chuckled. "That makes two of us, I genuinely thought I'd lost you. If it hadn't been for King Kai realising you were still alive then-"

"Mom would've killed you for sure!"

Vegeta laughed and drew Trunks up into a hug.

_"I guess that blue catfish has his uses afterall," Vegeta thought._

"I'm sorry I let you down, Son. It won't happen again, " I promise.

"You never let me down, Dad," Trunks assured him, "it was me who let you down. I should've been able to hold Triablada off on my own."

Vegeta held Trunks' face in his hands.

"No, Trunks. You did what any saiyan would've done. You fought until the very end. I'm proud of you for holding your ground. The failing is mine, you got that?"

"Yes, Father."

"Now, I suggest when we go home we don't tell your mother the whole story."

"How about I got beat up to a certain extent then you stepped in and saved the day?" Trunks suggested.

"Reckon she'll buy it?" Vegeta asked him.

"I hope so," Trunks gulped.

"Well it's our word against hers. However, when we do go home, you obey every command I give you until I'm satisfied you're fully recovered." Vegeta told him.

"Yes, Father," Trunks agreed.

Vegeta smiled as Trunks buried his head in his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him. Vegeta returned the gesture and wondered why he didn't hug Trunks more often. After all, he was lucky to have such an incredible boy.


End file.
